Lancashire launches £75 million waste revolution

Lancashire has launched its £75 million revolution of waste collection and disposal procedures in the Ribble Valley area.

The countys householders produce 670,000 tonnes of waste a year so the areas 14 local authorities have formed the Lancashire Waste Partnership which aims to increase recycling levels and reduce the amount of rubbish sent to landfill.

The £2 million Ribble Valley Waste Transfer Station (RVWTS) will be the first of a series of facilities aimed at collecting, sorting and forwarding waste to recycling centres.

LWP chairman Graham Sowter said: Facilities like the RVWTS will enable us to vastly reduce our dependence on landfill well ahead of waste reduction targets set by the Government.

Lancashire is one of the nationally acknowledged pacesetters in providing a more sustainable system of managing waste and I would like to pay tribute to the officers of Lancashire County Council (LCC) and Ribble Valley Borough Council who have designed, planned and built such an excellent facility.

The site will take delivery of recyclable material such as glass, cans and plastic as well as green waste after new statistics suggested that if no action is taken, the amount of waste produced in Lancashire will double in the next 20 years.

LCC cabinet member for sustainable development councillor Tony Martin said: The Lancashire Municipal Waste Strategy sets challenging targets aimed at reducing the amount of rubbish we produce. The RVWTS is the first of a series of advanced waste transfer facilities that will ensure we treat waste safely and cleanly in an enclosed building.

It will enable us to improve recycling and minimise waste, meet national targets for recycling household and business waste, and reduce the number of vehicle trips involved in Ribble Valleys waste management operation.

Martin acknowledged that the facility represented a huge step forward for Lancashire, while LCC leader councillor Hazel Harding CBE sung the praises of the area more fully.

She said: As each of these facilities commences operation, we will see a massive reduction in the countys greenhouse emissions, equivalent to removing over 100,000 cars from the roads and planting over two million trees.

This has massive benefits, not just for those living in Lancashire, but for generations to come.

That was 2018 – the year when China’s ban on most waste material imports really showed how decisions in one country can affect those on the other side of the world, as the UK and others scrambled to find alternative capacity.

Have your say

Please remember that the submission of any material is governed by our Terms and Conditions and by submitting material you confirm your agreement to these Terms and Conditions. Links may be included in your comments but HTML is not permitted.

Get access to key decision makers

With a focus on the recycling and waste management sector, in particular, materials processing and reprocessing, waste management and collection, retail waste and recycling, construction waste and recycling, MRW is read by key decision makers in the industry.